The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop is a spin-off of the Wacky Races. It stars Penelope Pitstop and her guardians, The Ant Hill Mob, and a new enemy, the Hooded Claw. The series was created by Hanna-Barbera studios. Summary "Penelope Pitstop, heiress to a vast fortune is perpetual peril from her fortune seeking guardian, Sylvester Sneekly. Who unknown to her, is really the Hooded Claw! But foiling this fiends foul plots are Penelope's ever present protectors, The Ant Hill Mob!" - Narrator Characters and Cast * Penelope Pitstop - The heroine, Janet Waldo reprised her role. * The Ant Hill Mob - The sidekicks, Paul Winchell and Don Messick reprise their roles, joined by Mel Blanc. * The Hooded Claw/Sylvester Sneekly - The villain, performed by Paul Lynde. * The Bully Brothers - The villain's henchmen * Chugga-Boom - A lively, animated car who replaces The Bulletproof Bomb, performed by Mel Blanc. * The Narrator - Performed by Gary Owens Episodes Production The series was patterned on the silent movie era melodrama cliffhanger movie serial The Perils of Pauline using the most successful characters of Wacky Races, namely Penelope Pitstop, the members of Ant Hill Mob and originally Dick Dastardly and Muttley though Dastardly and Muttley were later dropped in pre-production according to this series DVD release information. Those characters would be later reused in their own series. Deciding to feature the characters in a different setting, studio heads decided to set the characters into an active adventure format strongly reminiscent of the 1910s. Adding to the cliffhanger serial feel, episodes typically started with a recap such as "Last time we left Penelope, she was in the clutches of the Hooded Claw". Contrary to later editing of the series in rebroadcasts, the original format of the series was to introduce the successive episodes at the end of the just-finished broadcast for the successive week that would present and leave Penelope in the middle of a dangerous situation to overcome. The cliffhanger would end with Penelope being shown placed in direct danger such as being shot out of a circus cannon to land in the wild animal cage. The audience is left there with the indication "Tune in next week for danger in the 'Big Top Trap' ". The successive episode would include recapping the previous week's end scene introduction and continue onto Penelope's successful avoidance of the danger she encountered. In all rebroadcasts of the series since the original broadcasts as well as on the DVD release of the series, these introduction endings have been removed from the main episodes. Some of the foreign broadcasts have retained these introductory endings. Also from the Wacky Races was the Ant Hill Mob, originally portrayed as a group of crooks but in this incarnation are now are either reformed, never had the criminal background of their earlier Wacky Races incarnation, or are engaging in a protection racket. The members also have completely new names, different from the original Wacky Races series (except for their leader Clyde, who was named "Big Clyde" in the Wacky Races), who, with their largely self-aware car, Chugga-Boom, acted as the heroes and were constantly rushing to Penelope's rescue. But their attempts to save her were only half effective. The Mob's reason for being Penelope's friends and guardians is never explained, although the narrator mentions that they were "benefactors." The Hooded Claw (voiced by Paul Lynde), aided by his pair of near identical henchmen who always speak in unison, the Bully Brothers (both voiced by Mel Blanc), concocted needlessly Goldbergian plots to kill Penelope (such as a device to drop her from an aircraft, cut her parachute, and then have her drop into a box of wildcats). While the Mob often rescued Penelope, as often as not she needed to rescue the Mob from the unintended effects of their attempts to rescue her. While Penelope was curiously helpless whenever The Hooded Claw grabbed her, once he left her tied up for his fiendish plans to take effect, she usually became resourceful and ingenious, sometimes coming up with spontaneous and creative methodologies to escape her peril. Trivia * The Wacky Races are never once mentioned, but the Hooded Claw references Dick Dastardly in the debut episode. * In the first sketches of the series, Penelope was supposed to have a younger brother named Johnny Pitstop, who would help the Ant Hill Mob save her from the clutches of the Hooded Claw. In those same sketches, Dick Dastardly and Muttley were supposed to be Johnny Pitstop's personal bodyguards, using once again their car, The Mean Machine. This was all in the first sketches, and never make out in the final works. * Instead of the Compact Pussycat, Penelope usually drives a green sports car, or any other vehicle that she finds, or even Chugga-Boom. Category:Television series Category:The Perils of Penelope Pitstop Category:The Wackyverse